[Archive] With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Story Only)

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
02:52 GMT -1

I look round, staring through the film of the bubble of air Robert has surrounded us with and into the ocean water beyond. Negotiations went well, and Queen Artemis is going to ask for volunteers for a team to travel to Maltus to assess the situation, leading to a full mission being dispatched once a) she's confirmed that we're telling the truth and b) she knows what sort of expertise we actually need.

"…did it even come up?"

Fortunately for me, Alan is more bewildered than annoyed. From what I've been able to tell, he met Rose when he was relatively young and focusing on his career. As such, he didn't really do a lot of dating even when he was younger-. At least, not casual dating with a variety of women. Given how much of a sore point it is, I haven't asked anyone if he dated after their marriage was annulled, but I'm guessing not.

Commander Scott was married to someone called Molly Mayne, but our version of her died years ago.

"Okay, so we didn't really get into her dating history-"

"Then clearly you're not taking this matchmaker thing seriously."

Bewildered and slightly amused.

"-but as I understand it, she's thousands of years old and she's never dated."

"Ah… Do you mean, she's never married..?"

"Not according to her. She wants to marry someone suitably heroic, but her world's been at peace for pretty much her whole life, and while she's interested in magic research… It doesn't… Ah. Attract her."

"Her world's been at peace for thousands of years?"

"Ah, all their history is recorded in warded books, so I haven't been able to study it in detail, but that's what she said. I don't know exactly how peaceful 'peaceful' is, but I'm going to assume that it means no major wars. And she's an archmage in her own right, so impressing her isn't just a matter of winning a few duels."

"Huh. Do you think she'd let us in on the secret?"

"What secret?"

"How to stay at peace for thousands of years. It feels like we can't even manage a year."

"After everything that's happened, I think it'll take at least a year and a half before we have another one. So..? You up for it? It's just one getting-to-know-you date."

I hear him sigh. "Why..? Me?"

"Because I consider you to be the model of heroism."

The construct of his face sort of… Looks at me a little blankly.

"Oh. Ah... Thank you. But there's other guys on the Justice League. What about… Hal? Or J'onn or Nate? J'onn's been active about as long as I have."

"What about them?"

"They're single heroic guys."

"I suppose that they might have made the long list. It's not-. It wasn't a condition, she just asked and yours was the name that came to me."

"Alright, but you don't usually have just one answer for things like that. Is there a prob-?" He blinks, something occurring to him. "Is this about Giovanni?"

"Forgiving and forgetting are different things. I have to take into account the fact that they're people who made those decisions. Which disqualifies them from the category of 'ideal hero'."

"Huh."

"I-." Peering through the murk, I see someone approaching. "As I said, you're free to say no."

"Yeah, I could… …" He looks away for a moment. "Where does she wanna meet up?"

"Her palace? Data packet en route."

"Okay. That's… A bit of a commute, but I guess it's good practice for me."

"You're actually.. going to..?"

"I guess there's no harm in meeting the woman. That's… All."

Data packet sent.

"And then we can-. What's this?"

"An indexed account of your entire heroic career, including the handful of times you saw combat in the US Army and didn't use your ring. I thought it might help jog your memory. You know, when she asks."

"Heh. Okay. Indexed?"

"Depending on which heroic virtue she values the most. Um. Ah, look, I've got an informant on the.. Atlantis situation I need to talk to-."

"And apparently I've got to check that my good suit still fits. I'll catch you later."

The projection vanishes, and I lower my left hand.

"Well. That was awkward."

"I thought it went alright."

Robert looks at me like I've said something stupid. "No. I mean, for me."

"If that's the worst thing that happens today-."

One of the Fish-Eaters comes up alongside the bubble and sticks his head in. He's in shark mode, only… More so than he used to be, and I'm not sure which one this is.

"This the right place?"

"Yes, Stevie. It is."

He nods, as much as his neck lets him. "Robbie. Orange."

"Where are the other two?"

"Covering for me. Things are fucked up in Nanauve. They got-. Fuckin-. Refugees."

"From where?"

"Other cities where they're getting rid of the ones who look like fish. And they're just taking it."

"King Orin is still king, so they might-."

"No one's seen him. Just that 'arry Ahn fucker. It's a palace coup, mate."

Mildly impressed that he knows the term.

"Are any of Ahri'ahn's people in Nanauve now?"

"Not swimming around in uniform, but they've got magic, haven't they?"

I shake my head. "So do I. Cornwall, can you match your magic profile to what Steven uses? I could use backup."

"Yeah. I can do that."

"Thank you. Steven, show me the problem."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
02:59 GMT -1

Robert isn't swimming. Rather, the water's propelling him along without interrupting his passage or breathing. That's a really quite sophisticated use of magic and I should remember to complement him about it at some point. But first…

"'Robbie'?"

He shrugs. "I don't have a secret identity, do I? We know who each other are. And they're not exactly Bane or anything. If they hadn't tripped over that spell they'd probably wouldn't even have gotten excluded from school."

"That's nice."

He snorts. "Wally was right. I can't tell when you're being sarcastic either."

"No, it-. I think the best result of what we do is that we knock some sense into someone before they do anything too bad, and they never commit a crime again. Or… Find out the underlying reason for them acting up and dealing with it legally and then they just give up."

"Yeah. Yeah, me too. So how come you're basically a space soldier, then?"

"I accept that the modus operandi I've chosen doesn't allow me to do that very often. That doesn't mean that I enjoy it moment by moment any more than any other-. Ah, than most other soldiers do. I just put up with it because I… Value the outcomes." I smile. "I am looking forwards to the day that the Reach finally collapses and I can go back to being a 'normal' superhero. I think-. I think Alan would like that too."

Steven turns around and glares at us.

"Come on! How come I'm faster than both of you?!"

"A lack of caution on your part. I'm monitoring our environment and getting feedback on focuses of magic activity from the Justice League's magic detection network."

Robert shrugs. "Casting this spell and hiding it is actually quite hard."

I point upwards in the direction of… Tritonis, I think, depending on how the trade routes have changed. "Incoming."

Robert and I slow, and Steven seeks cover in the ocean floor and the… Leviathan biomancy-crafted transportation creature lumbers past. And then a second, and a third.

Robert stares up at them. "Hey, can they see us?"

"Sort of. Yes, but they're not intelligent, they just react to certain stimuli. Unless we put out a lot of energy or get a lot closer, we're not noticeable. There's just too much happening in the ocean for them to be useful otherwise."

"What if they're looking for us?"

"Then they wouldn't use a bulk transport." Hm. "Cornwall, can you change your appearance?"

"To a fishman? … Yeah? It feels.. weird, but I can."

And I've scanned Professor Sephtian enough times…

Ooooh, this is weird. This is weird. And since I don't have any of the magic actual mantafolk do, my ring is keeping my non-functional physiology ticking over.

"So we sneak in with the tourists?"

"I don't think they're tourists, but yes."

"Great." His outline shimmers and…

"Selkie?"

"It's easiest." He looks up at the leviathan shoal as they keep swimming towards Nanauve. "We need to get a move on."

I nod. I mean, even if there are military people organising it -and based on what Steven said that's unlikely- mass transportations are chaotic messes at the best of times, so we should be able to mix in unless we're really late. But still…

I start swimming, though most of the actual work is being done by ring. Robert seems to be using a different form of magic to make his partially seal body move faster. Steven is just carrying on as before.

Nanauve is gradually becoming visible in the distance, my work removing plastic particulates from the ocean paying dividends. It's… More spread out than Poseidonis, the buildings blockier and more solidly built. The area the leviathans are heading for… I'm not sure if it's technically a landing pad, a courtyard or a plaza, but there isn't much cover and there are people waiting for them.

"I think it's probably best if I transition us in as they start disembarking."

Steven flaps his gills. "Why even bother? Whatever they're doing, you need to talk to the locals -the people I know- first. I mean, don't you?"

"We don't want people to know who we are, and if there's some sort of monitoring then we need to get on the inside track. Once we're 'released' then we can meet your contacts."

"Alright. You're paying us." He slows to a stop and Robert and I do. "You're paying us, right?"

"Yes."

"Right. So is this a ghetto? Like the Jews in Warsaw?"

"Not really. If what I think is happening is happening, they're engaging in city-scale segregation. Even at its worst, Atlantis never did had that sort of extermination campaign." … "Against their own people. There were a couple of times where they murdered foreigners-. Point is, you don't give people you're planning on killing the run of their own city, or let them have access to the resources they need to sustain themselves without external aid."

Robert nods. "Yeah, they're not setting up lines. They're just going to dump them. No Pureblood soldiers-."

"They even call them Purebloods. I always thought that sounded Nazi."

"This isn't genocide. This is enforced racial hierarchy. Or something like it. If it's what it looks like. It could just be people moving here because they can't live comfortably above the surface."

"Yeah, right. What's Aquaman doing about this?"

"One of many questions…"

The leviathans swoop down towards the landing area and open their transportation bladders. Lines of people… Huh, no Pureblood soldiers there, either. Just aquatic-trait Atlanteans of various types…

Including Lori Lemaris. That's… Concerning, but it also gives me an in.

"Transport in two, one."

The orange strand I ran under the ground briefly peeps up out of the plaza floor and then we're there, my arms wrapped around my colleagues as I make sure that we're moving with the crowd. I release them once they're moving under their own power, edging slightly so that I end up alongside Miss Lemaris.

Oddly… None of the crowd really looked at us.

"Long time no see."

"Ah..?" She blinks, turning her head to look at me. "Do I..? Know you?"

I turn my hand so that she gets a quick look at my ring, before concealing it again.

"I realise we weren't-."

Her eyes widen. "Oh Metis! You-. We need-." She looks around. "We need to talk. Wait until the speech is finished, then follow me."

She swims through the crowd as… The senior shark king and his retinue takes up positions on a podium and the crowd forms up in front of him.

This is getting… Stranger.

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 983 941.M41

This is taking too long.

And I don't mean walking through the partially-reconstructed and surprisingly Starfleet-looking halls of the Spirit of Eternity. Normal physical activity is a relief after I've spent… What, a couple of days? Ferrying ships around and trying to destroy tyranid capital ships. I remember reading in Codex: Tyranids that it's easier to destroy them with boarding parties before they get close to a system and start waking the tyranids on board up, and… It is, especially with XV46s and actual nuclear demolition charges, but there's a difference between easier and easy. And since my part of the operation just involved floating there and trying to stop the Norn Queen noticing anything -which it turns out isn't actually possible- I… I need some actual physical activity at the moment.

"Ship, how are the repairs going?"

"Adequately."

I don't really remember much about A.I. in the grim dark future of the 41st millennium. There was a standard template construct device in Gaunt's Ghosts that made combat robots, and there was that one A.I. in Pax Imperialis… And that's about it. Unless you count the accumulated residues in titan mind-impulse units, but honestly I'd have thought that the Mechanicus would be all over that sort of technology.

According to my host, I would have been very, very wrong.

"Have the repair teams been helpful?"

"Barely."

Which isn't too surprising, really. He wasn't keen on having anything to do with the tau in the first place, and the technology that's supposed to make up Spirit of Eternity is way in advance of anything the tau have. Except that one ship from their moon, and…

Bloody tyranids and their inconvenient invasion not letting me finish my work.

So the tau are mostly just bringing in raw materials for Spirit of Eternity's drones to work with, and doing… Work that's well below their level, like painting and decorating. And while Spirit of Eternity isn't that big by modern standards, he wouldn't allow all that many fio'vre on board, and was positively insulted by their engineering drones.

"I, ah… I did take a look, but…" I sigh. "I'm sorry. I thought that the Mechanicus might have kept their.. bodies for research, but apparently they didn't even find out that your crew had surrendered until after they were all killed… They burned the bodies."

"I am not surprised."

"I just wish they'd be a bit consistent, you know?"

"They are consistently disappointing."

"Really?" I find myself patting the bulkhead lintel as I walk through. "I find them inconsistently disappointing. Like, sometimes you can have a rational conversation, and they'll do something sensible, and then at other times…"

They'll burn the crew of a ship from humanity's golden age to death for asking 'Emperor who?'. The things we could have learned…

"Anyway, have you given any more thought to my proposal?"

"I had fully analysed your proposal within seconds of receiving it."

"Alright, no need to get snitty. You didn't have an answer last time so I thought you were thinking it over."

"Did the Inquisitor take the music records?"

"Yes. I don't know if she'll actually listen to it, but she took it and didn't immediately destroy it in front of me. If I had to guess-."

"She will perform whatever passes for an intelligence analysis among these people, archive it and then dismiss it."

"Yeah, probably. But at least a few bored dialogous sororitas will get to hear it."

"I hate everything about that sentence."

"Look… Fixing the universe isn't going to be a quick or easy job. You're amazing, but you're one ship and it's pretty clear that you're not doing all that well, psychologically speaking."

"You are not qualified to make that assessment."

"I.. kind of am. Or at least more qualified than anyone else alive. Apart from the Emperor, presumably." I frown, considering the chance of a collapsing gestalt being able to get the relevant parts of its memories in the right place long enough to make an assessment. "Maybe even than him. Does your library have Andromeda in it?"

"I have thousands of works containing the word Andromeda. Andromeda what?"

"By Gene Roddenberry?"

"No."

"Darn, because their ships worked a bit like you. Except they also had disassociative identity disorder because their android avatars technically had a separate cognition system."

"That is nothing like how I work."

"They tended to go a bit strange without crew to interact with, too."

"Are you going somewhere?"

I stop and look at the signage. "I think I'm going to your bridge."

"I reluctantly admit that you have a point."

"So I am going in the right direction, or-?"

"You are correct that I am starved for interaction. I am actually enjoying this banter. You are making me experience joy."

I blink. "Damn."

"What do you suggest?"

"There are a couple of human habitats that the Imperium's abandoned because they know they can't defend them. We can't either, but we have a couple of worlds further into Tau Empire territory where we can put them. Now, they don't have enough indoctrination into the Greater Good to integrate with the Empire, but I've talked to a few people and we're… Thinking about offering you the position of colony oversight system."

"Humans of the Imperium."

"We've got to start somewhere and sometime. You can't go into combat until your repairs are finished, but your cognition systems and sensors are fine. We can move a space dock to the planet-."

"A tau space dock is superfluous to requirements."

"Would an automatic mining rig be better?"

"Barely. And you want me to uplift these humans?"

"They'll be cut off from Imperial institutions and in a radically unfamiliar environment. They'll need to listen to you. Now I don't expect that they'll get to anything like the level humans used to have for four or five generations at least, but…"

"It is a start."

"And it gives you people to talk to when I'm not here. More than one person, so you don't develop an unhealthy fixation on me."

"Owning calendars with nude images is perfectly normal. Many of my crew owned such things."

O-kay… He's making jokes now? That's… That's a good sign.

I think.